The most fundamental embodiment of an earphone connected to a mobile terminal having music-reproducing functions primarily consists of the following components.
First and second earphone bodies each containing an acoustic transducer (unit of a magnetic circuit, diaphragm, or the like); first and second monaural cables connected to each earphone body; and a plug for connection with a mobile terminal disposed on an end of each monaural cable.
One end of each of the abovementioned cables is connected to each earphone body, the plug for connection with a mobile terminal is connected to the other end, portions of the two cables from the intermediate part of the cables to the plug for connection with a mobile terminal are generally bundled into a single cable (hereinafter referred to a third cable), and the cables as a whole are thus formed into a Y shape.
There is also an earphone in which a stopper is disposed in a portion between the first and second cables and the third cable, and which is provided with a slide holder used to prevent the cables from being entangled when the earphone is housed or suit the earphone to a users preferences.
In addition, there is an earphone further provided with a controller including manual operation buttons (switches) used to operate the playback functions of a mobile terminal, such as “Vol.+”, “Vol.−”, “Play, Pause” and the like.
This controller is disposed on a cable between connectors used to connect an earphone body and a mobile terminal. In some of controllers provided with a microphone for speech communication in particular, the microphone for speech communication is located in a position close to lips and suited for a call, i.e., the first and second cables closer to the earphone body.
As the first and second cables, a cable switch serving as a control switch is disclosed in an earphone which incorporates radio functions, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-207455 (Patent Literature 1), in addition to prior and existing commonly-known cables.
This switch is not such that the switch is disposed in a specific place of the cable. Instead the cable has switch functions over an effective range in the length direction of the cable. Thus, the cable is structured so as to be able to perform switching operation (switch-on) no matter which place of the cable is pressed within that range. This type of switch is referred to as a cable switch.